


Silver Lining

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, Comfort, Depression, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Swearing, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 10:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11146788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: According to the saying 'Every cloud has a silver lining'. Considering the way his day is going Gold doesn't believe that at all.





	Silver Lining

Gold woke up an hour before his alarm went off. He lay in bed staring at the ceiling trying to work out why he was awake at this ungodly hour. He decided it was probably because of the racket the birds were making outside; it sounded like the little buggers had discovered a megaphone or something because nothing small and feathery should be able to sound that shrill. He sighed and scrubbed his hands over his sleep-stubbled face, he may as well get up.

He swore to himself as he moved his bad leg over the edge of the bed. The knackered joint felt stiff and oddly as if it wasn’t fully there. He stood up carefully and took two steps before the sharp pain of pins and needles flared from his knee to his toes.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck it!”

He staggered sideways and just managed to land on the corner of the bed, the jolt of crashing on to the mattress set the pins and needles on fire, he ground his teeth together and winced as he tried to massage his calf. The scared muscle was rock hard and he was whimpering as he forced himself to rub it. Unbidden, and most certainly unwelcome, a memory of his ex-wife sneering at him for his physical weakness rose in his mind. He could clearly hear her calling him a useless cripple as he fought to ease the pain that held his leg in its vice-like embrace. The echo of her taunting, mocking voice provided his mental sound track as he finally got his calf to relax from cramp back into pins and needles. With a shuddering sigh he forced the poison memory away. For a brief moment he considered just crawling back into bed, but he needed to piss, so he heaved himself to his feet and limped unsteadily into the bathroom.

By ten o’clock he was beginning to wonder if he should had just said bugger it all and gone back to bed after he’d had a piss. He’d got shampoo in his eyes during his shower; nicked himself twice while shaving; burnt his toast and spilled coffee on his shirt. All those little annoyances were apparently just the warm-up act for a day that was going from bad to worse. 

He’d arrived at the shop to discover that the alley where he normally parked his car was full of workmen digging a bloody great hole. He’d had to park almost a block away, the walk from car to shop had made his ankle throb, so he wasn’t in the mood to deal with the work crew who shrugged and told him they were just doing their job when he asked them what they thought they were playing at. He’d spent twenty minutes on the phone shouting at Mayor Mills, (partly because of the noise outside and partly because he was fuming), only to be told that the work was essential and the disturbance would be minimal. The Mayor clearly had a different definition of ‘minimal’ than him, because the sounds of a jack-hammer and yelling did not fall into the category of minimal disturbance in his book. Had the noise been constant he would have closed up and gone home, but there were pauses when he thought he could get some work done. Without fail each time he tried to apply himself to a task the drilling sound would start again, and his concentration would be chipped away faster than the concrete.

Gold found himself restlessly fliting from task to task, never getting anything finished and getting more annoyed by the moment. His shoulders were tense, and his growing headache was competing with his ankle for the title of most painful. It was almost noon by the time he noticed that the noise of the work crew had been replaced by the steady thrum of rain. He stood for a moment watching the drops race down the window. He needed to take a pain killer, but long experience had taught him that taking the pills without food led to indigestion. There was no way he would make it to the diner without getting drenched, and considering how today was going he’d probably slip over on the wet sidewalk. With a heavy sigh he reached for the phone to call the diner for a delivery.

 

Belle was stood at the counter in the diner as Granny answered the phone, she wasn’t eavesdropping, but it was hard not to overhear Granny’s side of the conversation.

“Granny’s Diner… Not a chance today … I’m sorry Mister Gold, I’m two waitresses down, I can’t spare anyone for a delivery …”

Granny huffed and put the phone down, “Well that’s gonna cost me on next month’s rent.”

She smiled at Belle; “What can I get you dear?”

The smile dropped from her face as Belle placed her order, but she held her tongue; Belle was a lovely girl, but in Granny’s opinion she kept some very strange company.

 

Gold had decided that he would give it an hour to see if the rain eased off and then head home. Today was a write-off; he should have stayed in bed; why did he bother getting up any day? His only interactions with other human beings today had been negative; he’d got nothing useful done, his stupid leg was causing him so much pain he couldn’t even walk along to the diner, he was truly a useless waste of space. He dropped onto the cot and hugged the pillow to his chest. 

 

Belle had been friends with Rufus Gold ever since she moved to Storybrooke two years ago. He’d been wary and stand-offish to begin with, but that was understandable since most of the town considered him to be the devil incarnate. Belle had been warned away from him countless times in her first weeks in town, but when no-one could offer her a better reason for their scorn than he was the landlord and upheld his deals to the letter, she ignored the warnings and kept being friendly towards him without asking anything in return. Little by little, much like a skittish animal slowly learning to trust, he had returned some of her smiles and greetings on the street, and then began to welcome her into his shop, or seek her out at the library. Once they started talking about books and antiques they found they had common interests and a similar dry sense of humour. People were confused by their friendship, but she didn’t let that bother her.

She wasn’t surprised that Rufus wasn’t at the counter; he spent most of his workday repairing things in the backroom. She shrugged out of her coat and hung it on the hat stand by the door. Rain dripped steadily from it onto the floor; she made a note to grab the mop after they had eaten. She picked up the take-out bags from where she’d left them on the counter, Rufus must really be into whatever he was doing, normally by now he would have called out, or come into the shop. 

She knew that he wasn’t going to be jumping for joy today; wet weather always made his leg ache, but as she pushed through the curtain into the back room, she hadn’t expected to find him curled on the cot. She rushed to his side; the take-out was dumped on the floor as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Rufus?? What’s wrong?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, but then very quietly he whispered; “I’m having a shite day.”

“Do you want a hug?”

He nodded at her glumly and moved to sit up. Belle slid on to the cot at his side and wrapped her arms around him; he snuggled into her, his head resting on her shoulder. As she started to stroke his hair she asked; “Just the weather getting to your leg, or it something else getting you down today?”

Rufus sighed, his exhale warm against her collar bone; “My leg, the weather, the roadworks, everything today is shite.”

He shifted his head so he could look at her face, “Except this, this is wonderful, Belle.”

“You know what would make this even better? Food.”

Rufus’ stomach gave a loud rumble, making them both giggle; “That sounds like a great idea. Shall I make some tea?”

Belle pressed a quick kiss to his lips and untangled herself from him; “I’ll do that, you unpack the burgers.”

He sat there stunned, his fingers tracing over his lips. Belle stopped halfway to the little kitchen and turned on her heel; “Did I just kiss you?”

He nodded slowly. Belle tilted her head to one side; “Was that alright?”

He swallowed and nodded again. Belle bit her bottom lip; “You didn’t kiss me back?”

“Too shocked.”

“Would you like to kiss me?”

“Oh yes.”

She gave him a bright smile; “I look forward to it.”

She skipped away to make the tea leaving Rufus to stare after her in dumb wonderment. This day had taken an unexpected turn and for the first time since he woke up he felt genuinely happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Non-Smut Prompt: Bad day, drink, cuddling


End file.
